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Paramilitary chiefs transferred to prison

December 03, 2006|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — With an escort of 500 armed soldiers and Black Hawk helicopters buzzing overhead, 59 paramilitary warlords were transferred by Colombia's government from a former holiday camp to a maximum-security prison. The government said it feared an escape plot.

The move Friday to Itagui prison--home to some of Colombia's most hardened criminals --is likely to come as a shock to the right-wing commanders, who for the past few months have enjoyed private televisions, special meals and other privileges not found in Colombia's violence-ridden jails.

The drug-funded paramilitary militias are accused of some of the worst atrocities in the Andean nation's long-running civil conflict.